Develop Reference

How to show a WPF window from Class Library (dll) project?

I have recently made a Class Library (dll) for my other project to program a Bluetooth device via serial port (COM). The library is used to transfer firmware via COM port. It works fine until the requirement comes, which requires a WPF window to show the progress of programming. I have successfully created the progress bar using standard WPF app template. However, the standard WPF does not allow me to generate dll. After searching here, I found this link that teaches you how to add a WPF window to existing Class Library project. Also, someone teaches you how to show the window from here. Everything look good until I tried, there is nothing shows up when I call the method ProgrammBluetooth() from LabVIEW.
My main method, which is in a separate .cs file:
namespace BTMProg
{
public class BTMProgrammer
{
private bool _uut1Status = false;
private string _uut1Message = "";
public bool UUT1Status
{
get { return _uut1Status; }
set { _uut1Status = value; }
}
public string UUT1Message
{
get { return _uut1Message; }
set { _uut1Message = value; }
}
public void ProgramBluetooth (string ioPort, string firmwareFile)
{
List<UUT> uutList = new List<UUT>();
uutList.Add(new UUT(ioPort, "UUT1", 1));
Thread thread = new Thread(() =>
{
var wn = new MainWindow(uutList, firmwareFile);
wn.ShowDialog();
wn.Closed += (s, e) => wn.Dispatcher.InvokeShutdown();
Dispatcher.Run();
if (wn.TaskList[0].Result.ToUpper().Contains("SUCCESS"))
{
_uut1Status = true;
_uut1Message = wn.TaskList[0].Result;
}
else
{
_uut1Status = false;
_uut1Message = wn.TaskList[0].Result;
}
});
thread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA);
thread.Start();
}
}
}
My WPF code in MainWindow.xaml.cs:
ProgrammingViewModel _pvm = new ProgrammingViewModel();
private List<string> _viewModeList = new List<string>();
private List<Task<string>> _taskList = new List<Task<string>>();
public List<Task<string>> TaskList {
get => _taskList;
set => _taskList = value;
}
public MainWindow(List<UUT> uutList, string firmwareFile)
{
InitializeComponent();
foreach (var uut in uutList)
{
_viewModeList.Add(uut.UutName);
}
_pvm.AddProcessViewModels(_viewModeList);
ProgressBarView.DataContext = _pvm.ProcessModels;
StartProgramming(uutList, firmwareFile);
Application.Current.MainWindow.Close();
}
The issue before was that if I don't use dispatcher to create a new thread, an exception saying "The calling thread must be STA, because many UI components require this...." thrown. After I use the new thread, no error but the window does not show up as expected. What could be the problem? Thanks.

The ShowDialog function will stop execution of the thread until the window closes, meaning the rest of that code may not run and the dispatcher may not be started. You should try the Show method instead, which returns as soon as the window is shown.
Also, what is going on with these lines in the constructor of the window?
StartProgramming(uutList, firmwareFile);
Application.Current.MainWindow.Close();
Whatever that first line does, it needs to return and not do a bunch of work if you want the window to finish getting constructed. The second line makes no sense at all. Why are you closing the main window of the application? Did you even set and open a window associated with that property at some point?
I suspect one or more of these things is preventing the thread from ever reaching the point where it can show the window.

Find out which winforms controls are accessed from a background thread

We have built a huge winforms project, already in progress for multiple years.
Sometimes, our users get an exception which looks like this one.
The resolution of this problem seems to be:
don't acces UI components from a background thread
.
But since our project is a very big project with a lot of different threads, we don't succeed in finding all these.
Is there a way to check (with some tool or debugging option) which components are called from a background thread?
To clarify:
I created a sample winforms project with a single Form, containing two Button
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
button1.Text = "Clicked!";
}
private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Task.Run(() =>
{
button2.BackColor = Color.Red; //this does not throw an exception
//button2.Text = "Clicked"; //this throws an exception when uncommented
});
}
}
The background color of button2 is set to red when the button is clicked. This happens in a background thread (which is considered bad behavior). However, it doesn't (immediately) throw an exception. I would like a way to detect this as 'bad behavior'. Preferably by scanning my code, but if it's only possible by debugging, (so pausing as soon as a UI component is accessed from a background thread) it's also fine.

I've got 2 recommendations to use together, the first is a Visual Studio Plugin called DebugSingleThread.
You can freeze all the threads and work on one at a time (obviously the non-main-UI threads) and see each threads access to controls. Tedious I know but not so bad with the second method.
The second method is to get the steps in order to reproduce the problem. If you know the steps to reproduce it, it will be easier to see whats causing it. To do this I made this User Action Log project on Github.
It will record every action a user makes, you can read about it here on SO: User Activity Logging, Telemetry (and Variables in Global Exception Handlers).
I'd recommend you also log the Thread ID, then when you have been able to reproduce the problem, go to the end of the log and work out the exact steps. Its not as painful as it seems and its great for getting application telemetry.
You might be able to customise this project, eg trap a DataSource_Completed event or add a dummy DataSource property that sets the real Grids DataSource property and raises an INotifyPropertyChanged event - and if its a non-main thread ID then Debugger.Break();.
My gut feeling is you're changing a control's (eg a grid) data source in a background thread (for that non-freeze feel) and thats causing a problem with synchronisation. This is what happened to the other DevExpress customer who experienced this. Its discussed here in a different thread to the one you referenced.

Is your app set to ignore cross threading intentionally?
Cross-thread operations should be blowing up all the time in winforms. It checks for them like crazy in just about every method. for a starting point check out https://referencesource.microsoft.com/#System.Windows.Forms/winforms/Managed/System/WinForms/Control.cs.
Somewhere in your app, somebody might have put this line of code:
Control.CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = False;
Comment that out and run the app, then follow the exceptions.
(Usually you can fix the problem by wrapping the update in an invoke, e.g., in a worker thread if you see textbox1.text=SomeString; change it to `textbox.invoke(()=>{textbox1.text=SomeString;});.
You may also have to add checking for InvokeRequired, use BeginInvoke to avoid deadlocks, and return values from invoke, those are all separate topics.
this is assuming even a moderate refactor is out of the question which for even a medium sized enterprise app is almost always the case.
Note: it's not possible to guarantee successful discovery of this case thru static analysis (that is, without running the app). unless you can solve the halting problem ... https://cs.stackexchange.com/questions/63403/is-the-halting-problem-decidable-for-pure-programs-on-an-ideal-computer etc...

I did this to search for that specific situation but of course, need to adjust it to your needs, but the purpose of this is to give you at least a possibility.
I called this method SearchForThreads but since it's just an example, you can call it whatever you want.
The main idea here is perhaps adding this Method call to a base class and call it on the constructor, makes it somewhat more flexible.
Then use reflection to invoke this method on all classes deriving from this base, and throw an exception or something if it finds this situation in any class.
There's one pre req, that is the usage of Framework 4.5.
This version of the framework added the CompilerServices attribute that gives us details about the Method's caller.
The documentation for this is here
With it we can open up the source file and dig into it.
What i did was just search for the situation you specified in your question, using rudimentary text search.
But it can give you an insight about how to do this on your solution, since i know very little about your solution, i can only work with the code you put on your post.
public static void SearchForThreads(
[System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerMemberName] string memberName = "",
[System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerFilePath] string sourceFilePath = "",
[System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallerLineNumber] int sourceLineNumber = 0)
{
var startKey = "this.Controls.Add(";
var endKey = ")";
List<string> components = new List<string>();
var designerPath = sourceFilePath.Replace(".cs", ".Designer.cs");
if (File.Exists(designerPath))
{
var designerText = File.ReadAllText(designerPath);
var initSearchPos = designerText.IndexOf(startKey) + startKey.Length;
do
{
var endSearchPos = designerText.IndexOf(endKey, initSearchPos);
var componentName = designerText.Substring(initSearchPos, (endSearchPos - initSearchPos));
componentName = componentName.Replace("this.", "");
if (!components.Contains(componentName))
components.Add(componentName);
} while ((initSearchPos = designerText.IndexOf(startKey, initSearchPos) + startKey.Length) > startKey.Length);
}
if (components.Any())
{
var classText = File.ReadAllText(sourceFilePath);
var ThreadPos = classText.IndexOf("Task.Run");
if (ThreadPos > -1)
{
do
{
var endThreadPos = classText.IndexOf("}", ThreadPos);
if (endThreadPos > -1)
{
foreach (var component in components)
{
var search = classText.IndexOf(component, ThreadPos);
if (search > -1 && search < endThreadPos)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Found a call to UI thread component at pos: {search}");
}
}
}
}
while ((ThreadPos = classText.IndexOf("Task.Run", ++ThreadPos)) < classText.Length && ThreadPos > 0);
}
}
}
I hope it helps you out.
You can get the Line number if you split the text so you can output it, but i didn't want to go through the trouble, since i don't know what would work for you.
string[] lines = classText.Replace("\r","").Split('\n');

Try that:
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Add the event handler for handling UI thread exceptions to the event.
Application.ThreadException += new ThreadExceptionEventHandler(exception handler);
// Set the unhandled exception mode to force all Windows Forms errors to go through the handler.
Application.SetUnhandledExceptionMode(UnhandledExceptionMode.CatchException);
// Add the event handler for handling non-UI thread exceptions to the event.
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.UnhandledException += // add the handler here
// Runs the application.
Application.Run(new ......);
}
Then you can log the message and the call stack and that should give you enough information to fix the issue.

I recommend you update your GUI to handle this situation automatically for your convenience. You instead use a set of inherited controls.
The general principle here is to override the property Set methods in a way to make them Thread Safe. So, in each overridden property, instead of a straight update of the base control, there's a check to see if an invoke is required (meaning we're on a separate thread the the GUI). Then, the Invoke call updates the property on the GUI thread, instead of the secondary thread.
So, if the inherited controls are used, the form code that is trying to update GUI elements from a secondary thread can be left as is.
Here is the textbox and button ones. You would add more of them as needed and add other properties as needed. Rather than putting code on individual forms.
You don't need to go into the designer, you can instead do a find/replace on the designer files only. For example, in ALL designer.cs files, you would replace System.Windows.Forms.TextBox with ThreadSafeControls.TextBoxBackgroundThread and System.Windows.Forms.Button with ThreadSafeControls.ButtonBackgroundThread.
Other controls can be created with the same principle, based on which control types & properties are being updated from the background thread.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace ThreadSafeControls
{
class TextBoxBackgroundThread : System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
{
public override string Text
{
get
{
return base.Text;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.Text = value; });
else
base.Text = value;
}
}
public override System.Drawing.Color ForeColor
{
get
{
return base.ForeColor;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.ForeColor = value; });
else
base.ForeColor = value;
}
}
public override System.Drawing.Color BackColor
{
get
{
return base.BackColor;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.BackColor = value; });
else
base.BackColor = value;
}
}
}
class ButtonBackgroundThread : System.Windows.Forms.Button
{
public override string Text
{
get
{
return base.Text;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.Text = value; });
else
base.Text = value;
}
}
public override System.Drawing.Color ForeColor
{
get
{
return base.ForeColor;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.ForeColor = value; });
else
base.ForeColor = value;
}
}
public override System.Drawing.Color BackColor
{
get
{
return base.BackColor;
}
set
{
if (this.InvokeRequired)
this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate { base.BackColor = value; });
else
base.BackColor = value;
}
}
}
}

Implement user interface command with background computing in wpf & mvvm

I have some difficulty with implementation user interface commands.
I use wpf, prism and mvvm. My app has two region - main and menu.
While app is loading in the menu region (NavBarControl, Devexpress) registering menu items (NavBarGroup). Each NavBarGroup has some NavBarItem. When a NavBarItem is selected the command which is bound executing. Some commands allow to create an entity. But for that app has to load some data from server and in this time the user interfacу should be responsive. I tried to reach that use next way:
this.createAccount.Command = (ICommand)new DelegateCommand(this.ExecuteCreateAccount);
private void ExecuteCreateAccount()
{
AppEvent.OnShowNotificationEvent(UTNotificationType.ChangeMainLoaderStatus, "show", null);
if (this.isCreateAccountProcessing)
{
return;
}
this.isCreateAccountProcessing = true;
Task.Factory.StartNew(() => this.AccountListViewModel.LoadUsersCollection()).GetAwaiter().OnCompleted(this.ShowAccountEditor);
}
private void ShowAccountEditor()
{
AppEvent.OnShowNotificationEvent(UTNotificationType.ChangeMainLoaderStatus, null, null);
this.isCreateAccountProcessing = false;
if (this.createAccount.IsSelected)
{
this.AccountListViewModel.CreateNewItem();
}
}
But maybe there is a better way to rich this goal?
While background computing takes place the app shows loader (AppEvent.OnShowNotificationEvent). If an user select another menu item the command is considered cancelled and account editor shouldn't be shown.

Since you are using the DevExpress framework, I suggest you to use the AsyncCommand. According to documentation, it designed for the scenarios like you've described.

Prism's DelegateCommand can handle async tasks. What about this:
this.createAccount.Command = (ICommand)new DelegateCommand(this.ExecuteCreateAccount);
private async Task ExecuteCreateAccount()
{
AppEvent.OnShowNotificationEvent(UTNotificationType.ChangeMainLoaderStatus, "show", null);
if (this.isCreateAccountProcessing)
{
return;
}
this.isCreateAccountProcessing = true;
await this.AccountListViewModel.LoadUsersCollection());
AppEvent.OnShowNotificationEvent(UTNotificationType.ChangeMainLoaderStatus, null, null);
this.isCreateAccountProcessing = false;
if (this.createAccount.IsSelected)
{
this.AccountListViewModel.CreateNewItem();
}
}
That is, if AccountListViewModel.LoadUsersCollection() can be made async. Otherwise you should wrap it in a Task.Run like this
await Task.Run( () => this.AccountListViewModel.LoadUsersCollection() );

How to notify UI about action done in API?

I'm writing a simple game, like tic tac toe (only mine is bigger). The game play is simple: my turn, check if won, bot's turn, check if won. I have simple UI and API that uses Domain Entites (that's not important now). So when user's moves, API will update the board, will know that next move is bot's move, so will do it and... has to notify UI. Here is my problem.
My question is:
How to notify UI about bot's move? I mean, to keep it simple but stick to the best programming practices.
My first thought was to create an event in GameAPI class. Is that good idea? Today will all new stuff, C# 6, etc.. I'm not sure:/ Right now UI is WinForms, but I would like to use this API in other UIs, like WPF or even mobile. Here is my simplified code of UI:
EDIT: Right now I'm talking about single player game. Both UI and API is a Client. There will be multiplayer through central server in next step, but right now, single player.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private GameAPI api;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
api = new GameAPI();
}
private void boardClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Field field = GetClickedField(e);
MoveResult result = api.MakeMove(clickedColumn);
if (result != null && result.Row >= 0)
{
MessageBox.Show(result.Row + "," + clickedColumn);
if (result.IsConnected)
{
MessageBox.Show("Success!");
}
}
}
}
and API:
public class GameAPI
{
public IGame CurrentGame { get; set; }
public void CreateGame(GameType type)
{
CurrentGame = new SinglePlayerGame();
}
public Result Move(int column)
{
if (CurrentGame == null) return null;
Player player = CurrentGame.GetNextPlayer();
if (player.Type == PlayerType.Human) return CurrentGame.Move(column, player.Id);
}
public Result MoveBot()
{
// Simulate Bot's move...
}
}

My first thought was to create an event in GameAPI class. Is that good idea?
Yes, why not? Let take for example the modern UI frameworks data binding. The key point of making data binging work is providing a property change notification (read - event) when some property value of the object is modified. Usually that's implemented via IPropertyNotifyChanged interface, which is simply a polymorphic way of declaring support for PropertyChanged event. This way, if you set the object property via code, the UI updates automatically. Hope you see the similarity with your case - the API does something and raises an event, UI (being attached handler to that event as some earlier point) receives the event and updates accordingly.

A Possible Threading/COM/UI problem

I am writing a toolbar for IE(6+). I have used the various sample bars from
codeproject.com (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/IE_toolbar.aspx), and have a toolbar that works, registers unregisters etc. What I want the toolbar to do is to highlight divs within an html page as the users' mouse moves over that div. So far the highlighting code works, but I would like to display the name of the div (if it exists) in a label on the toolbar (changing as the mouse moves etc).
I cannot for the life of me get this to happen and trying to debug it is a nightmare. As the assembly is hosted in IE, I suspect that I am causing an exception (in IE) by trying to update the text on the label from a thread that didn't create that control, but because that exception is happening in IE, I don't see it.
Is the solution to try to update the control in a thread-safe way using Invoke? If so how?
Here is the event code:
private void Explorer_MouseOverEvent(mshtml.IHTMLEventObj e)
{
mshtml.IHTMLDocument2 doc = this.Explorer.Document as IHTMLDocument2;
element = doc.elementFromPoint(e.clientX, e.clientY);
if (element.tagName.Equals("DIV", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase))
{
element.style.border = "thin solid blue;";
if (element.className != null)
{
UpdateToolstrip(element.className);
}
}
e.returnValue = false;
}
and here is an attempt at thread-safe update of the toolbar:
delegate void UpdateToolstripDelegate(string text);
public void UpdateToolstrip(string text)
{
if (this.toolStripLabel1.InvokeRequired == false)
{
this.toolStripLabel1.Text = text;
}
else
{
this.Invoke(new UpdateToolstripDelegate(UpdateToolstrip), new object[] { text });
}
}
Any suggestions much appreciated.

I can't really reproduce the issue (creating a test project for an IE toolbar is a tad too much work), but you can try this:
Add the following routine to a public static (extensions methods) class:
public static void Invoke(this Control control, MethodInvoker methodInvoker)
{
if (control.InvokeRequired)
control.Invoke(methodInvoker);
else
methodInvoker();
}
And then replace the section of similar code in the first block with this:
if (element.className != null)
{
this.Invoke(() => toolStripLabel1.Text = element.className);
}
This is a sure-fire way of avoiding thread-safe issues in UI applications.